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In Society
| runtime = 74 min | language = English | budget = $659,000 }} In Society is a 1944 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. It was the first of five Abbott and Costello films to be directed by Jean Yarbrough. It was re-released in 1953. Plot Eddie Harrington (Bud Abbott) and Albert Mansfield (Lou Costello) are plumbers who receive a call about a leak in the private bathroom of Mr. Van Cleve (Thurston Hall), a wealthy businessman. The leak is keeping him awake, but the costume ball that his wife (Nella Walker) is throwing downstairs is not. Eddie and Albert enlist the aid of a friend, Elsie Hammerdingle (Marion Hutton), a taxi driver, to take them to the mansion. While they are upstairs attempting to fix the leak, but flooding the room instead, Peter Evans (Kirby Grant), a guest dressed as a cab driver, mistakes Elsie for another costumed guest...despite her insistence that she really is just a cab driver. He winds up inviting her to another gala event, Mrs. Winthrop's (Margaret Irving) estate Briarwood, where a valuable painting The Plunger is to be revealed. Meanwhile, Eddie and Albert mistakenly receive their own invitation to the event, as Mrs. Van Cleave was intending to send them a letter of complaint for the devastation that they inflicted on her home, but instead mails them her invitation to Briarwood. They think it is a reward for a job well done, and look at it as a chance to meet other wealthy clients. However, a loan shark named Drexel (Thomas Gomez) that they owe money to demands they steal the painting while they are there. When they refuse to go through with the plan, Drexel and Marlow (Murray Leonard), a crooked chauffeur at the party, attempt the steal the painting themselves. When the painting is discovered as missing, Gloria Winthrop (Ann Gillis), accuses Elsie, Eddie, and Albert as the thieves. However, they clear their names when Eddie and Albert, in a firetruck, capture Drexel and Marlow and recover the painting. Routines This film includes the classic Bagel Street scene—itself adapted from the popular vaudeville routine Street—during which Abbott and Costello attempt to deliver straw hats to the Susquehanna Hat Company, but everyone they meet along the way has a reason for hating that company and each of them destroys a hat until there are none left. Production It was filmed from June 12 through July 21, 1944, with much of it being filmed at the Jewett Estate on Arden Road in Pasadena, California. Although Abbott and Costello filmed this Universal Pictures film after they filmed Lost in a Harem for MGM, this film was released first. DVD release This film has been released twice on DVD. The first time, on The Best of Abbott and Costello Volume Two, on May 4, 2004, and again on October 28, 2008 as part of Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection. External links * Category:1944 films Category:Black-and-white films Category:Abbott and Costello (film series) Category:English-language films Category:American films Category:Films directed by Jean Yarbrough Category:Universal Pictures films Category:1940s comedy films Category:1944 Category:Film Category:Bud Abbott Category:Lou Costello